What is the challenge your project is going to address and how does it connect to the theme of 'How can we improve across system boundaries?​

Despite a surge in referrals of young individuals to specialised mental health services, only 25% facing significant challenges actually access treatment (Young Minds, 2023). Some, particularly those with neurodevelopmental conditions, experience wait times of over a year on average (The Guardian, 2023). Historically, support for those awaiting care has been scarce, leading some young people to escalate into crises.

North Central London (NCL) Waiting Room addresses this gap by showcasing up-to-date, trustworthy wellbeing resources and offering immediate needs-based recommendations. Through a whole-system approach, it promotes cross-sector collaboration among professionals serving young people and families, fostering information sharing and promoting best practices.

However, our >40 partner services grapple with challenges associated with resourcing and structuring public and patient involvement (PPI) for quality improvement (QI) efforts. This initiative aims to establish a framework for engaging youth in co-designing both our website and local services, improving local capabilities and ensuring sustained impact beyond the grant period.

What does your project aim to achieve?

Waiting Room aims to enhance the experience of waiting for and working with services, while providing reliable information and support to a wider audience. Through a series of participatory events, we will adapt the platform based on user feedback, customise resource recommendations, and inform both service delivery and communications.

By delivering these in conjunction with local voluntary sector organizations (VCSEs) we know young people rely on, we will strengthen cross-sector relationships and equip a wider circle of professionals to improve the support offered to young people.

Our objectives include:

• stimulating user-driven quality improvement
• generating insights to promote quality improvement across partner services
• facilitating discussions on mental health to empower VCSE staff
• promoting a shared language around mental wellbeing
• involving diverse young people to address health inequalities
• giving VCSEs ownership of the platform for sustained engagement and impact
• and refining and sharing a repeatable implementation approach for maximum reach

How will the project be delivered?

The project is led by QI experts from the Trust and the established Waiting Room team and key partners.

Building on a successful pilot with 4 youth centres, we will leverage existing cross-sector relationships with health and voluntary sector services to conduct 10 events, each with 10 young participants. Focused sessions will cater to marginalised groups, including neurodiverse youth and those with specific mental health challenges. Following our host NHS Trust’s QI approach, we will utilise established QI methodology with support from our experienced QI team.

Crucially, feedback from these events will drive rapid improvement cycles on our website, implemented in quarterly ‘sprints’ in collaboration with our technical partner, blending digital user experience expertise with clinical improvement methodology.

Our blog will cover both engagements and technical development and will serve to illustrate the cycles of QI, with participants in later events witnessing earlier developments as well as generating their own.

How is your project going to share learning?

We plan to disseminate our learning by:

• Regularly updating a multimedia webpage on our website to share project advice and findings with the Q community and stakeholders.
• Creating an accessible and shareable toolkit to enhance learning and improvement capabilities, influencing improvement culture beyond health alone and leaving a structure for future engagement work.
• Sharing Q Community findings through the National i-THRIVE Community of Practice, of which we are active members.
• Disseminating transferable learnings through reports, workshops and presentations within the Q Community and relevant external stakeholders.
• Presenting our findings at a QI conference through a poster presentation.
• Utilising project learnings to inform the expansion and development of Waiting Room across London’s 5 Integrated Care Systems and beyond as we seek expansion across the region and the UK.